A lavish makeover for Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel

Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel has been brought back from the brink of devastation with a lavish £20million makeover.

The bar with original Italian marble floor at the Glasgow Grand Central Hotel

It’s a wet winter’s night in Glasgow but the 1,200 guests attending the reopening of the Grand Central Hotel aren’t bothered – the luminaries of the Glasgow media scene have their spray tans turned up to maximum and are guzzling the free champagne like there’s no tomorrow.

And why not?

The bash has been anticipated for months, with speculation rife as to what exactly this £20million year-long refurbishment will deliver.

Quite an overhaul as it turns out.

The Grand Central, originally just the plain old Central Hotel, was established in 1883.

Built right into Glasgow Central station, it was a city landmark for decades.Its restaurant, Malmaison, was regarded as one of the best in Scotland and the likes of Cary Grant , Mae West, Frank Sinatra and Vivien Leigh all stayed at the hotel.

Unfortunately, as time marched on, Central Hotel hit the skids, with a succession of proprietors either unwilling or unable to invest in the maintenance of its gigantic 350,000sq ft of bedrooms and function rooms.

By the turn of this century, it was regarded as place that was well past its prime – home to record fairs and Weight Watchers meetings.

‘It was a real sketchy dive and no one in their right mind would have thought of coming here for a drink,’ muses my Glaswegian pal as she slurps her cocktail in the hotel’s glitzy Champagne Central bar.

It’s one of the Central’s star attractions – with a spangly chandelier and a ceiling covered in £10,000 of gold leaf.

When developers were refurbishing the hotel, they peeled back layers of carpets in the bar to uncover the original Italian marble floor beneath.

Interior of a bedroom at Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow

It had been hidden for so long no one knew it was there – a boon for the squad of feather-headed hoofers who suddenly turn up to deliver a retro showgirl dance number on launch night.

Similar retro-inspired entertainment lurks elsewhere in the building.

A female doo-wop foursome, resembling the Loose Women panel, croon their way though some old pop hits in the massive ballroom, followed by a turn from an aerialist showcasing the huge ceilings, which were also uncovered during the refurb when a false ceiling was removed, exposing a set of windows and Italian marble columns.

There was even a big-band turn from Darius Campbell and an opening speech from Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond.

But will Grand Central recapture its former glory? Possibly.

There are already 50 weddings booked for the year ahead and it is doing brisk corporate business thanks to its 21 function rooms.

The top three floors are set to be spruced up in the coming months, increasing the current 186 rooms to 224, so owner Principal Hayley is showing every sign of confidence.

The Glasgow hotel market is competitive but the Grand Central offers four-star accommodation at fairly reasonable prices (starting at £89 per room, which are very spacious with 32in plasma screens and high ceilings) with a great location.

The A-listers may not be banging on the door just yet but it’s good to see a neglected and unloved institution attempt a return to form.